[Omnitech]

Another example of what Verizon reps are telling customers:

http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...estion-772353/

[jivegirl14]

Speaking as an Android user and previous BlackBerry owner of several years with a Samsung Galaxy SIII, I had a play with the new BB10 phone yesterday. It's a very nice phone and I always thought it would be. But it doesn't tempt me to leave my S3 in the least. Quite the reverse in fact. It made me appreciate my S3 even more, especially the customizations I can do. I know it can do lots of cool things but I didn't think it had that Wow factor that grabbed me when I got my S3. I saw others having interest in it so hopefully BB will sell many of them. But I am rocking my S3 and have no intention of moving back. Neither do any of my friends - I asked them.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[anon(1401020)]

Hopefully US carriers adopt BB10 fairly, unlike what Sprint seems to be doing.

Also, I still haven't yet changed my opinion that Americans mostly want a fancy game playing entertainment device. With the media hype always surrounding Apple, it'l be hard to convince your average user to go back to BB. Most consumers are primarily concerned with using only the most hip media-approved devices. Which is of course sad. Games and trendiness over productivity.

[katiepea]

Hopefully US carriers adopt BB10 fairly, unlike what Sprint seems to be doing.

Also, I still haven't yet changed my opinion that Americans mostly want a fancy game playing entertainment device. With the media hype always surrounding Apple, it'l be hard to convince your average user to go back to BB. Most consumers are primarily concerned with using only the most hip media-approved devices. Which is of course sad. Games and trendiness over productivity.

I think that's a pretty big cop out and misconception. Its easy to say that's what the problem is and deny the real issues. I'm an android user currently, from years of being a BB user. I'm going to get a z10 because I'm also not a loyalist and like to try new things. I'm very aware the z10 is not capable of many things my android is. I'm not talking about games either. I don't play games. I'm getting a z10 knowing I'm sacrificing functionality coming from a 2 year old HTC device. I'm OK with that. Many people wouldn't be.

[geoffsdad]

Hopefully US carriers adopt BB10 fairly, unlike what Sprint seems to be doing.

Speaking of Sprint...........Petition Bring the Z10 To Sprint

[Omnitech]

[re: US users wanting mostly a media consumption device] I think that's a pretty big cop out and misconception. Its easy to say that's what the problem is and deny the real issues.

Actually I think you're both right. Yes US users are lemming-like, yes they like to do a lot of media consumption, but one cannot deny that not only does BB10 not have a massive "wow" factor that would trump everything else on the market, the apps ecosystem and rollout-delay in the USA are really crippling the sentiment here.

I looked at a study yesterday that demonstrated among other things that the US market is the most "app-centric" market for smartphones in the world. Most of the developing-world is big on messaging right now (probably because smartphone messaging provides options to them that in many cases wouldn't exist otherwise - like cheap flat-rate BIS plans for Blackberry), whereas that stuff in the USA is either passe or most people already have multiple ways to accomplish it (computers at work and home, tablets, etc) so it's less of a big deal here.

[texazzpete]

You are projecting an evident "specs matter very very much" attitude onto the general populace who don't know what an "S4" is. Analysis flaw #1
Projecting again. A display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 at 4.5 inches better have the fastest CPU available to push all those useless pixels. If you've laid eyes on a Z10 screen, you know the screen is excellent, so saying that anything other than a minority of gadget nerds even care about higher resolution screens is, again, projecting your "must have" criteria onto the general public.

Ah, but this is where you are absolutely wrong. Specs DO matter, and specs drive sales. People don't always know the raw numbers but they cling to the ones they understand.
The Average consumer doesn't have to know that a TV has a 1920 x 1080 resolution...all they wanna know is that it is 'Full HD'. So while they may not know the resolution numbers, millions more will buy a 'Full HD' tv over a 'HD Ready' TV.
Ditto for phones. Specs driven marketing terms like 'Super AMOLED +' and 'Full HD' will drive phone sales. We've seen real-world examples of this when the Galaxy S III crushed the HTC One X based on released benchmarks. There are hundreds of websites like GSMArena that post these benchmarks and sway the purchasing decision of millions of consumers worldwide.
I remember when Engadget announced that the HTC One X for North America would come with a Dual Core Snapdragon S4 instead of the Quad Core Tegra 3 SoC. Despite the fact that the S4 was faster than the Tegra 3, the comments were filled with irate fanboys berating HTC for not bringing the Quad Core version over.

Funny how you scoff at the notion that anyone would want a better screen than that in the Z10...yet the reviews of the Z10 on Crackberry and other BB fansites are full of self-congratulation that the Z10 has a higher pixel density than the iPhone 5 which has an excellent screen too.

Your rationale doesn't explain why carriers also offer phones that are far LESS than super... that people still go crazy if they can get a Galaxy SII off contract for $199. It's only got 800 x 480 resolution on an over 4" screen... pixels so jagged you could cut yourself on them! So, the spec race (which is largely already run to the end, if someone offered a 4.5" phone with a 3840 x 2160 display would it be "better"?) is clearly not the utmost criteria, even though phones with high specs do sell well. The SIII didn't sell well because it's got 1280 x 720 resolution screen (which the Z10 exceeds) it sold well because it's got a BEAUTIFUL screen and is fast, and has Android. The Z10 has a BEAUTIFUL screen and is fast, and for some BB10 is an asset, for others BB10 is a liability, and for most, BB10 is an unknown of which BB marketing has to inform the public, and so far I think they're doing a pretty good job.

Of course carriers are happy to offer budget phones for their millions of subscribers that aren't rolling in dough. We're talking about competition at the high end here, not the budget realm. When we're talking high end, flagship phones, the specs do matter.

Still think specs don't matter? Here's a screenshot from the Phones4u website advertising the Xperia Z, which is due to be released later this month and is already being demoed in all their shops.



In just that one image, you can see the specs the average consumer will compare against the Z10.

1080p Full HD screen
13MP camera. John Q Public will see that that Z10 has an 8MP camera
Quad Core CPU. versus Dual Core
Full water resist.

These ARE specs, and some of which are compelling to even the most tech illiterate consumer. This is what Blackberry will face when they launch in the US to stand beside all the specs heavy Android phones from Mobile World Congress. Of course, once the Galaxy S IV launches, Blackberry gets moved to the back of the shop. Sad reality.

[adskg]

This is the Marketing tools, soon releasing not favorable for bb 10 so creating some interval get more attraction, and more successful.

[cgk]

These ARE specs, and some of which are compelling to even the most tech illiterate consumer. This is what Blackberry will face when they launch in the US to stand beside all the specs heavy Android phones from Mobile World Congress. Of course, once the Galaxy S IV launches, Blackberry gets moved to the back of the shop. Sad reality.

I'm not a fan of Sony but they really are throwing their all at this launch - one of the daily papers in the UK had adverts for the Z on each page for the first seven pages.

[texazzpete]

I'm not a fan of Sony but they really are throwing their all at this launch - one of the daily papers in the UK had adverts for the Z on each page for the first seven pages.

Yup
for the Phones4U Z10 launch, first 250 customers were given a 64gb playbook. For the Sony XperiaZ, the first 1000 folks to preorder get a Sony headset worth 300 pounds.
Sony's already moved fast by putting demo units in every shop well before launch. I think more than anything they are trying to sell as many units as they can before the Galaxy SIV launches.

[richardat]

I'm not a fan of Sony but they really are throwing their all at this launch - one of the daily papers in the UK had adverts for the Z on each page for the first seven pages.

I feel for Sony somewhat. I believe they have suffered from some unfair fanboy attacks over the years, and moreover, while I have never really forgiven them for how overpriced their products used to be (though they were of good quality I found), I feel bad that they have actually been producing high quality phones AND trying to do some interesting things to differentiate their phones, but have not been rewarded with better sales.

[vespajet]

There is supposed to be one american carrier offering z10 already. I haven't heard anything about anyone buying it from there.

It's some obscure carrier called Solavei which looks to be some sort of Multi Level Marketing scheme (If you get your friends to sign up for their service, they cut your bill.) and you buy the device from a site called GSM Nation to use on Solavei. Solavei uses T-Mobile's network so instead in getting potentially suckered into a possible pyramid scheme, you could buy the device from that site an use a T-Mobile or Simple Mobile micro SIM.

[cgk]

Yup
for the Phones4U Z10 launch, first 250 customers were given a 64gb playbook. For the Sony XperiaZ, the first 1000 folks to preorder get a Sony headset worth 300 pounds.
Sony's already moved fast by putting demo units in every shop well before launch. I think more than anything they are trying to sell as many units as they can before the Galaxy SIV launches.

I think Sony have learnt a lesson from HTC, you need to get stuff out in the lull periods between Galaxy launches - not because the phone might be that technically superior to your model but simply because of the money that Samsung now throw at marketing/advertising/promotions/carrier tie-ins.

[tonyrenier]

BlackBerry, as most public companies does not report numbers till their quarterly shareholders call, check it out before implying something untoward.
A shear lack of understanding of the business world has people jumping to conclusions, which may be promoted by very untrustworthy financial bloggers demanding more from BlackBerry than other publicly traded companies. Business leaders know how much anxiety they would inject into the market by doing this, they would probably lose their jobs and quite justifiably.

[pblakeney]

Beg to differ on your comment. There are those of us that use or try to use their BB phones for their intended use and later intent as a working tool. The PB seems to be taking the mantel of gaming device as it for me misses the make as a business tablet. I do hope the bridge feature is restored to full functionality once the Z10 hits US shores. Not every US user lives by social media and tweeting...... :-)

Hopefully US carriers adopt BB10 fairly, unlike what Sprint seems to be doing.

Also, I still haven't yet changed my opinion that Americans mostly want a fancy game playing entertainment device. With the media hype always surrounding Apple, it'l be hard to convince your average user to go back to BB. Most consumers are primarily concerned with using only the most hip media-approved devices. Which is of course sad. Games and trendiness over productivity.

[Blacklatino]

Hopefully US carriers adopt BB10 fairly, unlike what Sprint seems to be doing.

Also, I still haven't yet changed my opinion that Americans mostly want a fancy game playing entertainment device. With the media hype always surrounding Apple, it'l be hard to convince your average user to go back to BB. Most consumers are primarily concerned with using only the most hip media-approved devices. Which is of course sad. Games and trendiness over productivity.

IMO, I think carriers want whatever is going to sell- whether the device is a new BlackBerry or has a boat load of games or not.

sent from my Galaxy S lll (*_~)

[texazzpete]

I think Sony have learnt a lesson from HTC, you need to get stuff out in the lull periods between Galaxy launches - not because the phone might be that technically superior to your model but simply because of the money that Samsung now throw at marketing/advertising/promotions/carrier tie-ins.

Yeah. The Galaxy series has now hit an iPhone-esque level of following now. Before other OEMs had to contend with just apple...now Samsung's Galaxy is a massive threat.
Even worse, Samsung knows how to churn these phones out in massive volumes. They'll flood every country and every carrier with tons of these devices.

It's an unfortunate scenario...I think any massive dominance by one OEM isn't good.

[Omnitech]

Even worse, Samsung knows how to churn these phones out in massive volumes. They'll flood every country and every carrier with tons of these devices.

It's an unfortunate scenario...I think any massive dominance by one OEM isn't good.

In an alternate universe and given Samsung's massive vertical integration (top maker of memory chips in the world, top maker of flat panel displays in the world, one of the main vendors of mobile CPUs in the world, etc etc), they might be taken to task for antitrust reasons. But given that South Korea is like many other Asian countries which have strong government involvement in their large industries, and given that Apple's litigation against them mostly revolved around lame look-and-feel stuff, that probably won't happen any time soon.